Really, truly, scared!

From time-to-time, I take an 84-year-old widow on errands and to lunch. The last couple of weeks have given me nightmares worrying about my 2006 Chevy Cobalt catching fire with her in it. Would I be able to unlock my seatbelt, open my door, race around to the passenger side, open the door, unbuckle her seatbelt, and pull her to safety before the car was engulfed in flames? Maybe the car would actually blow up.

Sound weird? Paranoid? Delusional?

Here is the rest of the story.

For those last several weeks, the nightmares have been caused by the car smelling like an open gasoline can. I crawled underneath to see where the leak was, but couldn’t find it. The car was getting harder and harder to start, even though the battery had plenty of cranking power. The smell got worse whenever I started the car.

My medical bills for the last few months have been astronomical, so I put off taking the car to the local Chevy dealer as long as possible. In my mind, I was looking at a repair bill for who-knows-what of up to $1,500.

Finally, the real fear of a fire took over, and I turned the car in. It took roughly nine hours to repair. The problem? A “Leaking fuel module/pump!”

A LEAKING FUEL MODULE! So my nightmares were not so crazy after all!!! Guess where the fuel pump is located – in the fuel tank! The fuel tank is close to the HOT exhaust system! As the replacement instructions read, “Remove the fuel tank, and release the retaining tab on the fuel tank retainer. . . . Tilt the pump towards the back of the fuel tank to avoid bending the fuel level sensor float arm.”

Can you say “KA-BOOM!”

The part is worth about $166.45. Add nine hours of labor, and my worries about a repair bill for up to $1,500 don’t sound so nuts either. However, the offending repair is part of a recall! GOING BACK TO OCTOBER, 2009! No charge, thank you very much.

That makes the third recall I’ve had for this car, including the infamous ignition switch.